


Heart (and Soul)

by FISHNONES, Shi_Toyu



Series: Inktober 2018 [8]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Art, BAMF Tony Stark, Digital Art, Gen, Inktober, Inktober 2018, Inspired by Art, Inspired by Fanart, Originally Posted on Tumblr, POV Thanos, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Soul Stone (Marvel), Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-04 08:56:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18340364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FISHNONES/pseuds/FISHNONES, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shi_Toyu/pseuds/Shi_Toyu
Summary: FISHNONES's Inktober art accompanied by a short ficlet by Shi_ToyuDay 8: Heart (and Soul)





	Heart (and Soul)

**Author's Note:**

> Art is by FISHNONES  
> Fic is by Shi_Toyu
> 
> Original art post can be viewed on FISHNONES's Tumblr [ here ](http://hello-shellhead.tumblr.com/post/178861041146/inktober-day-8-heart-and-soul-i-turned-tony) and Shi_Toyu's Tumblr can be found [ here. ](https://shi-toyu.tumblr.com/)

Thanos came to Midgard himself, not sending the Black Order ahead of him like he would have normally. It was such a funny little world, he mused, as its people fled from the destruction his ships had caused. Humans, the dominant species on this world, had lives so fleeting, so insignificant, that they had been able to pass for centuries without anything but the barest contact from other worlds. And yet, he thought with a smile that curled his lips into an expression that could only be described as menacing, they still managed to remain so _arrogant_. Even now, there were members of the race who chose to defy him despite how clear it was that they could not win.

He watched as they stepped forward; the two sorcerers, one with the time stone hanging from his neck, the human counterpart to the beast he had already bested, and there, in the middle like a shining star, a small, brunette man in a tracksuit, blue light spilling from a device in his chest. Elsewhere on this planet, his children would be hunting down their own prey, the one who bore the mind stone, but it was nice for Thanos’s own prey to bring themselves to him. He had always valued efficiency.

“Earth is closed today!” the man in the tracksuit called out and _oh,_ Thanos couldn’t believe he hadn’t recognized the mortal sooner.

“Tony Stark,” he greeted, grin growing as the mortal’s steps faltered for just a moment and he glanced around at his companions.

“You know me?”

How could Thanos not?

He had spent so long searching for the stones, tracking them to discover their locations, even when he was not yet free to retrieve them. Of them, the soul stone had always been the most elusive. It didn’t hold the same constant form as the others did, even the aether with the way it twisted and morphed. No, the soul stone was something special, even by the standards of the Infinity Stones. The soul stone was a _force_ , one that could not be contained. It was sentient and went where it wanted, did what it wanted, _possessed whom it wanted_.

Gamora had been so clever to manage putting together the pieces Thanos never had. It was one of the many reasons she had always been his favorite, even if she’d tried to hide that discovery from him. The soul stone could only be found by tracking down the individual it had _chosen_ and harvesting the stone directly from their body. That was why Thanos had come personally to Midgard. Somehow, for all that it was a largely-untouched world, they had still somehow wound up with _three_ of the Infinity Stones.

Incredible.

“I’ve been looking forward to this day.”

Try as they might to stop him, Thanos knew this was a battle he had already won. He would defeat these mortals, claim the time stone from around the sorcerer’s neck, have his children bring him the mind stone from the construct’s head, and then, when there was only one left for him to claim, he would rip the soul stone from Tony Stark’s body.

And finally, Thanos would be able to reach his goal.


End file.
